Kobayashi is too inconsistent, I think that's why Sauber has doubts to retain him. I mean, one race he sits top 5, whilst the next race he qualifies and finishes outside of the top ten for no apparent reason.

rubbish. I can explain with logic the reasons for his finishing position for each and every single race.

quote myselfOZhis rear wing flap was damaged at T1 of opening lap and was flipfloping for whole race

Malaysiahis rear damper was slowly failing from in the middle of FP3. Team could identify the problem only because he kept insisting sth was defo wrong with rear suspension for several hours after Quali.In the race, he asked for wet tyres on lap 3 or so but team ordered him to stay out (eventually pitting lap 9 or so). When it was drying up, he asked for dry tyres earlier but again team ordered him to stay out. Eventually his brake failed and had to retire.

Chinagood quali. But during support race on sunday morning, a car put oil patch exactly on his starting position, which hindered his start apparently.

Spainhis Q2 best lap was set with right rear tyre (iirc) being sprayed with leaking oil from his car. Without which he wouldve started from better position and might have finished higher.

Monacotaken off at St devote several sec after the start. Also, he insisted different tyre choice for Quali than team's recommendation. and it turned out that his choice seemed to be correct.

Canadastuck behind Kimi and di Resta for long time at critical point of the race, which cost him 15sec at minimum. Plus team changed strategy from 2 stopper to 1 stopper in the middle of the race. SS>S 1 stopper was the strategy that was meant to fail in the first place. Plus, before the race, he insisted 1 stopper strongly, same as his teammate's, but the team denied it.

also the team gave slow 1st pitstop at Valencia, 1st corner incident at Spa, etc

Besides above, he had minor bad lucks here and there, like slow pitstop (like 8sec instead of 5), questioning strategic call (earlier than planned pitstop despite his good pace), all resulted in lost position and time at critical timing.

Also races like Barcelona and Germany, he had to stuck behind slower car for many laps despite having pace and good strategy. Kamui just is without luck, almost miracle-esque.

note that I'm not remembering them all nor catching them all.

Also Sauber is good at circuits like Spa, Suzuka with flowing layout and smooth surface, but quite awful at stop-go circuit like Hungary and Singapore. Also at many circuits Williams and FI cars were as strong as or stronger than Sauber.

(but the likes of Brundle, Allen, Herbert etc are no better than you, they are the ones incapable and driving this "Kamui driving for his career" spin, you're just one of victims of that)

Kobayashi is too inconsistent, I think that's why Sauber has doubts to retain him. I mean, one race he sits top 5, whilst the next race he qualifies and finishes outside of the top ten for no apparent reason. Of course there's no guarantee that an Alguersuari would do better, but I can understand Sauber wants a fresh face after three years with Kamui. That's also why he's not good enough for a near top team like Lotus.

Kobayashi is actually slightly more consistent in qualifying than Perez. His mean starting position is 10.47 (std.dev 5.01) compared to 12.40 (5.87) for Perez. I'd rather say they are both quite inconsistent, which could easily be explained by varying car performance. You were probably thinking of Singapore, where Kobayashi only qualified 17th - but he was only one tenth slower than Perez in Q1, so the car clearly wasn't up to pace.

Drivers aren't getting replaced because the team wants to see a fresh face. It's either about performance or money. Alguersuari had some good races in the STR and it would be nice to see him back on the grid, but i can't remember him doing anything that would make him seem better than Kobayashi. He likely brings more money than Kamui, but maybe some Japanese companies will grow a pair and start investing in the only Japanese driver in F1. Who knows? The last thing i heard of Alguersuari was that he hasn't signed anything yet.

(but the likes of Brundle, Allen, Herbert etc are no better than you, they are the ones incapable and driving this "Kamui driving for his career" spin, you're just one of victims of that)

?

Kobayashi clearly IS driving for his career. It is no secret that Sauber is looking elsewhere and will not commit at all to signing him for 2013. Kamui has been inconsistent this year and perhaps more importantly there is no sign whatsoever that he'll be able to bring sponsorship next year which he needs.

Also you can tell this is the case since he spent most of the race dicing with Jenson, this only ever happens when Kamui is fighting for his career ;)

As for the likes of Brundle and Herbert, both were talking up Kamui this weekend asking what reasons Monisha had for dropping him. Brundle in particular was also busy comparing Kamui and Sergio's raw pace during quali pointing out the differences reaching Q3 etc.

I hope he can rack up a great string of results to end his season. Maybe that'll get him a seat again. After all, it's not the first time Kobayashi has been under pressure.

I think not only unlucky but also supports from the team.Strategies, set up, release timing of Q1, everything looks to Checo.

Many of Checo's mechanic men has more experience and worked with KK last year.On the other hand, KK works with fresh mechanics and sometime looses a way to the setup.For example at Malaysia he suffered from easy def trouble although Checo got his first podium.Getting back from lower position was usually shown by KK last 2 years, but now only by Checo...

Of course Checo brings many sponsors but KK doesn't...Where is a big supporter for him?

I really haven't been keeping up with the day to day things in F1 recently, so I was a bit shocked when I heard how precarious Kamui's drive really is for 2013. Last year I thought he could have qualified better, but he seemed to get great starts and drove well during the races. This year seems to be the opposite - he improved his qualifying pace but his starts & race pace weren't the same as last year.

I am happy that he drove so well this weekend in Suzuka. I hope it's enough to get him a drive on a good team for next season. I also hope he can stay at Sauber, but after reading many of the responses here it seems like that may not be the case. He's definitely too good of a driver to be out of a seat in F1. Best of luck, Kamui, and I hope you can make the best of the remaining five GPs.

rubbish. I can explain with logic the reasons for his finishing position for each and every single race.

quote myselfOZhis rear wing flap was damaged at T1 of opening lap and was flipfloping for whole race

Malaysiahis rear damper was slowly failing from in the middle of FP3. Team could identify the problem only because he kept insisting sth was defo wrong with rear suspension for several hours after Quali.In the race, he asked for wet tyres on lap 3 or so but team ordered him to stay out (eventually pitting lap 9 or so). When it was drying up, he asked for dry tyres earlier but again team ordered him to stay out. Eventually his brake failed and had to retire.

Chinagood quali. But during support race on sunday morning, a car put oil patch exactly on his starting position, which hindered his start apparently.

Spainhis Q2 best lap was set with right rear tyre (iirc) being sprayed with leaking oil from his car. Without which he wouldve started from better position and might have finished higher.

Monacotaken off at St devote several sec after the start. Also, he insisted different tyre choice for Quali than team's recommendation. and it turned out that his choice seemed to be correct.

Canadastuck behind Kimi and di Resta for long time at critical point of the race, which cost him 15sec at minimum. Plus team changed strategy from 2 stopper to 1 stopper in the middle of the race. SS>S 1 stopper was the strategy that was meant to fail in the first place. Plus, before the race, he insisted 1 stopper strongly, same as his teammate's, but the team denied it.

also the team gave slow 1st pitstop at Valencia, 1st corner incident at Spa, etc

Besides above, he had minor bad lucks here and there, like slow pitstop (like 8sec instead of 5), questioning strategic call (earlier than planned pitstop despite his good pace), all resulted in lost position and time at critical timing.

Also races like Barcelona and Germany, he had to stuck behind slower car for many laps despite having pace and good strategy. Kamui just is without luck, almost miracle-esque.

note that I'm not remembering them all nor catching them all.

Also Sauber is good at circuits like Spa, Suzuka with flowing layout and smooth surface, but quite awful at stop-go circuit like Hungary and Singapore. Also at many circuits Williams and FI cars were as strong as or stronger than Sauber.

(but the likes of Brundle, Allen, Herbert etc are no better than you, they are the ones incapable and driving this "Kamui driving for his career" spin, you're just one of victims of that)

It almost sounds like some decisions are hindering him. Why would this happen? Does Telmex have anything to do with it?

Kobayashi clearly IS driving for his career. It is no secret that Sauber is looking elsewhere and will not commit at all to signing him for 2013. Kamui has been inconsistent this year and perhaps more importantly there is no sign whatsoever that he'll be able to bring sponsorship next year which he needs.

Also you can tell this is the case since he spent most of the race dicing with Jenson, this only ever happens when Kamui is fighting for his career ;)

As for the likes of Brundle and Herbert, both were talking up Kamui this weekend asking what reasons Monisha had for dropping him. Brundle in particular was also busy comparing Kamui and Sergio's raw pace during quali pointing out the differences reaching Q3 etc.

c'mon, you cant be saying he's been inconsistent, i know what u meant by it, i know u know it, but u should put it differently.

And, maybe i have to believe in you, but overall Ive been getting different impression, coz they often dont give due credit to him when he should be given, never mention Kamui's unlucky, and at Monza he said sth like "40sec difference b/w Perez/KK, that's more than strategy surely", which surprised me really. (Also s/o like Allen talk up FI drivers and talk down Sauber's dont help either). I hope you're right and would happily accept I misunderstood bit too much tho.

Very impressive. He drove like a front runner today. As someone has said, he isn't far off Perez in the championship. I don't see how Kamui's position could be under threat at all if Perez was certain to stay at Sauber (before going to McLaren). Hopefully he can end the season on a high and secure a new contract with a decent team.

It almost sounds like they are actively hindering him. What reasons would they have for this? Does Telmex have anything to do with it?

nah, we can rule that out, it doesnt help either.

Explained many times already, but being midfielder they always like to take hedge strategy, cannot blame the team for that, and just by coincidence Perez's odd strategy worked when he got it. Also there's general and common tendency that midfielder team going through Q3 struggle at race due to less fresh sets of tyres. All Perez podiums as well as some other teams good result can be explained by that. At Suzuka 2012 Massa did quite a bit of "Perez" to clinch 2nd, ie qualifying outside top 10, jumping position in the midst of mess at start, more fresh set of tyres enabling longer 1st stint and clear air running, benefitting from immediate competitors (KK/JB) losing considerable amount of time by stuck behind traffic after their normal pitstops, etc.

I've just watched the BBC coverage of the race, David Coulthard seemed pretty certain that Kobayashi is leaving Sauber at the end of the year.
It seems to be one of those rumours that the F1 circus knows well before the story gets confirmed, like Petrov to Caterham last year Martin Brundle mentioned it first and then a few months later it was announced.
So if Kobayashi is leaving where could he end up? I think Williams will be dropping Senna at the end of the year and Lotus will probably drop Grosjean, so that could be two potential seats. As a long shot Toro Rosso? Ricciardo and Vergne are doing ok but don't look like they'd be up to making the step up to Redbull anytime soon which makes it likely they could be replaced. It could help sell Redbull in the Japanese market.

Williams has Bottas they love, and need money.
I cant see Lotus dropping Grosjean coz they have connection. Even if drop Gro, they arent rich team, so they'll have someone with connection or money.
STR, no, coz they have plenty of drivers in their driver program pool.
Sauber is really good team to be for Kamui, he rightly deserves that seat for 2013, but they need money too.

The one thing Toyota got right when leaving the sport, was bringing this guy in for those two races at brazil and abu dhabi. I really hope Sauber gives him a drive next year, or someone else. I can't see Lotus dropping Grosjean, cos despite crashing into other on the first lap, he is still proven to be a fast driver, once he gets going. Could do with a lot more experience, and besides his manager is Bouiller so he's gonna have his support every step of the way.

Williams might give Kobayashi a try. He's more consistent than Maldonado, not that Maldonado's seat will ever be in jeopardy while there's 35 million euros being pumped into the team. Senna on the other hand while consistent has little in the way of pace, and can't seem to extract anything from the car come qualifying. Unfortunately it's almost a dead certainty that Bottas will take that seat.

Maybe Force India, depends on if Hulk or Di Resta gets the Ferrari seat in place of Massa. Alguersuari also got a chance at this drive.

So out of that lot, i can only see Kobayashi staying with Sauber. I think it's a lot more likely now that Perez is moving on to Mclaren.

Kobayashi is too inconsistent, I think that's why Sauber has doubts to retain him. I mean, one race he sits top 5, whilst the next race he qualifies and finishes outside of the top ten for no apparent reason. Of course there's no guarantee that an Alguersuari would do better, but I can understand Sauber wants a fresh face after three years with Kamui. That's also why he's not good enough for a near top team like Lotus.

Well Perez isn't consistent either which just shows that the Sauber probably doesn't work on all circuits (or better since the field is so close, just not as good as in Spa or Suzuka for example). Kamui clearly had some bad luck, sometimes his fault like bad starts or stuff like that but he is not a crash kid or anything, if the car is good he delivers, he showed that a couple of times. If I remember correctly Perez got all his Podiums from starting outside the Top10 or due to weather, sure he made those strategies work brilliantly but he had the advantage of a clear track to make these positions up while Kamui was on the same strategy as his rivals... This stuff is not as easy as it sounds you can't simply compare points...

Monisha Kaltenborn said post race that Kamui took a huge part in the development in this car btw...

So out of that lot, i can only see Kobayashi staying with Sauber. I think it's a lot more likely now that Perez is moving on to Mclaren.

Yeah that's what I thought too, it might be good to retain him if they want to put some like Gutirrez in the car (who keeps the mexican money in the team). I'd be really disappointed if they put Algesuari and Guterriez in for next season...

Yeah, getting rid of Kamui is very bad descision for Sauber I would say, when he doesn't perform well there's usually quite a shocking reason behind it(like in Singapore he qualified and raced in a car set up for Hockenheim etc), he never usually reveal these stuff to international media so unless you understand Japanese and keen to follow him, you simply tend to end up underrating him, but he really is a good driver and well deserved to have a seat somewhere in f1 next season

What about the very real possibility that Kamui outscore Perez?
Imagine that, Kamui outqualifies and outscores Perez in the 2012 championship. Perez goes to macca for 3 years, Koba goes back to his dad's restaurant.
If Sauber doesn't extend his contract, I'll be very disappointed.

I've just watched the BBC coverage of the race, David Coulthard seemed pretty certain that Kobayashi is leaving Sauber at the end of the year. It seems to be one of those rumours that the F1 circus knows well before the story gets confirmed, like Petrov to Caterham last year Martin Brundle mentioned it first and then a few months later it was announced.So if Kobayashi is leaving where could he end up? I think Williams will be dropping Senna at the end of the year and Lotus will probably drop Grosjean, so that could be two potential seats. As a long shot Toro Rosso? Ricciardo and Vergne are doing ok but don't look like they'd be up to making the step up to Redbull anytime soon which makes it likely they could be replaced. It could help sell Redbull in the Japanese market.

I find actually quite annoying that media get involved in these kinds of speculations on global public waves, perhaps robbing Kamui picking up a sponsor, if they get concern about bad publicity. Very irresponsible from DC. Besides, if he “knows” anything, then almost certainly it is not from Sauber, but from someone who heard about Sauber is building up contingencies and stressing the driver’s market, which is normal business activity. Perez was shining gold, deductive reasoning at high school level pointed then to Kamui as the unlucky one and perhaps out. Situation however has changed. Perez is gone, and Kaltenborn would have to make a business decision to take a pay driver in preference to sporting decision, and keep Kamu driving. I have feeling that Koba has a room to grow, and it’s too soon to ignore him.

I find actually quite annoying that media get involved in these kinds of speculations on global public waves, perhaps robbing Kamui picking up a sponsor, if they get concern about bad publicity. Very irresponsible from DC. Besides, if he “knows” anything, then almost certainly it is not from Sauber, but from someone who heard about Sauber is building up contingencies and stressing the driver’s market, which is normal business activity. Perez was shining gold, deductive reasoning at high school level pointed then to Kamui as the unlucky one and perhaps out. Situation however has changed. Perez is gone, and Kaltenborn would have to make a business decision to take a pay driver in preference to sporting decision, and keep Kamu driving. I have feeling that Koba has a room to grow, and it’s too soon to ignore him.

Completely agree. I get the feeling he really build on this result and become a top class driver. It would be very very unfair for him to go now.

What about the very real possibility that Kamui outscore Perez?Imagine that, Kamui outqualifies and outscores Perez in the 2012 championship. Perez goes to macca for 3 years, Koba goes back to his dad's restaurant.If Sauber doesn't extend his contract, I'll be very disappointed.

can you imagine... Kamui out of a drive and Grosjean (thanks to his manager Boullier) has a seat at Lotus in 2013.

What about the very real possibility that Kamui outscore Perez?Imagine that, Kamui outqualifies and outscores Perez in the 2012 championship. Perez goes to macca for 3 years, Koba goes back to his dad's restaurant.If Sauber doesn't extend his contract, I'll be very disappointed.

I'm sure he'll get a place in Toyota's LMP1 programme, and/or something in Formula Nippon, if and when he does leave F1. Hopefully he won't have to make this decision for a good few years yet.

If only Honda or Toyota would make noises about coming back in 2014. It might help persuade one of the teams to give Kamui a ride in the hope that Honda/Toyota would supply them engines. Unlikely, I know.

Would it be too far fetched of an idea if Kamui were to go to Ferrari? I know there were talks about this possibility a long time ago, but is that even a realistic option for him right how? Thoughts?

I think it's extremely unlikely, especially as Massa was on the podium as well, but I'd love to see it happen. The only serious speculation I remember on this subject was Edd Straw writing an Autosport Plus column suggesting him as a short-term replacement when Massa was seriously underperforming earlier in the year.

I'll go out on a limb and speculate that Montezemolo's "not experienced enough" comments about Perez were because Ferrari was eyeing Kamui to replace Massa in the event Massa was let go.

Kamui isn't also experienced enough for Ferrari, just a year difference between him and Perez!But his works, few critical mistakes like Grosjean or Maldonado, good and many overtaking, safety fight, getting points as possible and 3rd without an amazing strategy show that he is like an experienced one

His mechanic crews also get experience! I believe he catche up Perez during last 5 races!Go Go

Kobayashi is not necessarilly out of Sauber, if I read Kaltenborn correctly. She merely thinks that knowing his potential, which they do, will influence their decision and is more important than a single (good) result. Cool business talk; no problem with that.

I wish him well.

____________

Edit as learned later:

AMuS thinks that Kamui is most likely out of Sauber. It's still all specualtion, but AMuS (German Autosport Magazine) knows their business, thus it's hard to ignore them. If true, I am hoping that he will find another fit within F1. Some Japanese sponsorship would be helpful. This guy was carrying Japan on his shoulders last weekend; it was great, and it would be shame to loose him.

I'll go out on a limb and speculate that Montezemolo's "not experienced enough" comments about Perez were because Ferrari was eyeing Kamui to replace Massa in the event Massa was let go.

If, this theory were true,Luca couldn't have driven Perez to McLaren any faster.Not a big Ferrari fan ,but i'd love to see KK in one next year.[Massa 95% to stay]He at least deserves a ride with someone. Really, Sauber should keep him.